Human rights campaigners are calling for new measures to tackle drugs and overcrowding in the Nicosia Central Prison.
The National Organisation for the Protection of Human Rights, Ethnopad, called on the Government yesterday to bring in serious reforms on a host of problems revealed last week when the facility opened its doors to the press.
Overcrowding is one of the biggest issues plaguing the prison, which holds 433 inmates, but is designed for just 274.
Inmates are sleeping in the corridors and TV rooms while juveniles are sharing quarters with lifers and hardened criminals. The youngest inmate is a 15-year-old boy serving time for illegal entry to the state.
During last week’s visit, Prison Governor Panicos Kyriacou confessed drug taking was a problem for the prison and said very little could be done to stop drugs from entering the facility.
A number of prisoners in the high-security ward voiced their concerns about the lack of support for reintegration into society after release.
Ethnopad, headed by Law Commissioner Lida Koursoumba and including UNESCO-Europe President George Christofides, put together a list of proposals for the government and prison authorities to study.
The organisation proposes to end the imprisonment of debtors and people who are unable to pay court fines or debts to the state because of their financial situation. It also says illegal immigrants should no longer be processed using criminal law but through administrative procedures.
Ethnopad calls on the state to stop using the Central Prison as a tool for rehabilitating juvenile delinquents. Inmates with drug addictions, serious infectious diseases or mental problems should be taken far from the prison and housed somewhere more appropriate where they can receive the proper care and therapy they require.
The human rights body highlights the need for measures to help inmates return to the community and limit the stigma around ex-felons.
Finally, Ethnopad calls for implementation of the law on personal data passed some time ago, which would curtail the invasion of inmates’ privacy by the media.
